Friday, November 09, 2012

U.K. will end aid to India in 2015

As India
continues to move from a developing nation to a developed one, aid money from
the richer nations will begin to go away. The world is currently debating when
and if aid money to India
should stop. The U.K. has
made the next step and announced today that aid to India will end by 2015. India has
happily agreed with the decision saying that they now have enough money to fund
their own development projects.

From the Guardian, the U.K.’s
development secretary Justine Greening explains some of the reasons behind the decision.

"After reviewing the programme and holding discussions with the
government of India this week, we agree that now is the time to move to a
relationship focusing on skills sharing rather than aid," Greening
said.

"Having visited India, I have seen first-hand the tremendous
progress being made. India is successfully developing and our own
bilateral relationship has to keep up with 21st-century India. It's time
to recognise India's changing place in the world.

"It is of
course critical that we fulfil all the commitments we have already made
and that we continue with those short-term projects already under way
which are an important part of the UK and government of India's
development programme."

The move follows criticism of the
government for maintaining aid to India, which has a booming economy and
its own space programme. It will delight Conservative MPs critical of
David Cameron's commitment to spending 0.7% of national income on
overseas aid.

The changes will mean Britain spending about £200m
less from 2013 to 2015 than had been planned by the former international
development secretary Andrew Mitchell.